In 2012, with the grant of $10,000 from the Area, the gift of furnishings and fixtures from the Anglican Church of Canada on the closing of the Anglican Book Centre, and the support of the congregation to pay the lease costs, the Parish of Cavan & Manvers embarked on a new venture on the main street of Millbrook. With the opening of Journeys Books, Gifts and Meeting Place, we began the process of rebuilding our presence in the community, and re-vitalizing our congregation.

The parish had been collapsed into a single point – St Thomas Millbrook – over the previous 10 years or so. Two churches were closed (Bethany and Bailieboro), one was converted to a Chapel of Ease (Lifford), and one was amalgamated into St Thomas (the Marsh) and is currently used only for summer services. The dislocation caused by these re-arrangements led the parish to turn inward; and along the way, the congregation of St Thomas lost the vibrant children’s and youth ministry it once had. The children of the members of the congregation grew up and left, and the Church did not seize the opportunity to renew itself by welcoming people from the new subdivisions being built around the Church.

To complicate matters, St Thomas Church is on a dead end street once removed from the main thoroughfare. It is not visible from the Main Street. It is also in a residential area. The combination of this and the inward turning of the congregation made it invisible and forgotten in the larger community. With an aging Church population, the wardens and people of St Thomas realized that it is critical for the Church to seek renewal by attracting young families, as well as older adults who are still in the work force. The people, mostly from somewhere other than the Millbrook area, who have moved into the new suburbs surrounding the School meet this description.

Considering how to re-engage with the community, we took stock of the opportunities around us. The social justice ministries are already being pursued effectively by community agencies with ecumenical participation. Members of St Thomas Church are already involved in the Community Food Bank, the Community Garden, Community Care ( a program to assist seniors) and the Health Centre Board. In addition, we do a $2 Community Dinner once a month, and have adopted a portion of the County Roads running through our community as our responsibility to clean up. Other members of our parish are involved in mission work outside Canada.

While more of a social justice nature could be done, we believe that it is vital to renew the church for what we are currently doing to continue. There is a limit as to what we can do without renewal and attracting more people to walk with us. If we do not, we will go the way of the other churches in our parish which have closed.

Ministry Opportunity

The Congregation, Advisory Board, Wardens and Priest know we need to risk and invest in our future to be viable going forward. As a starting point to engage our community – and particularly the newcomers within it – we established a presence on the main street, among the shops and stores. Journeys Books, Gifts and Meeting Place offers the line of books and gift items available from Augsburg Fortress, Broughton’s, Crux, Books for Eternity, David C. Cook, Foundation Distributing, Harper Collins and Novalis, music CDs from the Naxos catalogue, consignment items supporting the work of local authors, artists and artisans, and new to you items – mostly books, videos, and music – both on tape and CD. The store provides a comfortable, neutral, welcoming environment with easy chairs and available coffee and tea to encourage people to come in, browse, and stay awhile.

In the meeting room, at the rear of the space, we plan to run small group programs; such as: meditation groups, the Start! Pre-Emmaus program, a variety of felt-needs programs ( Divorce Recovery, Blended Families, Healthy Relationships, Dealing with Grief and Loss, Stress Management etcetera), workshops, and community and youth group meetings. We have a number of experienced group facilitators to help guide this project part of the project.

While the costs of operating a Bookstore may appear daunting,we determined that it would not be necessary to make a profit. While it would be nice to be self-sustaining, any shortfall is considered to be an evangelism expense. Unless we invest in our future, we may not have one. We did determine to minimize our costs by operating like a Sears Catalogue store. We keep a modest stock – ones and twos of the items we select, but can order from the complete catalogues of our suppliers. Running Book Tables for various church events also helps us meet expenses. 

We have done much in the past at 12 months: learned to merchandise, advertise and operate a commercial enterprise; entered into agreements with suppliers; operated Book Tables at two Area Days, at Ladies Night on the main street of Millbrook with book signings by some of our local authors,and at a church Lenten Mission; learned how to take credit cards through Pay-Pal; participated in the local Business Improvement Association, and the Peterborough County Meet Your Needs Day Initiative; and held a workshop facilitated by one of our consignment authors.

Pay-Pal was found to be problematic for many of our volunteers, who are retired and not particularly comfortable around computers, and so we now have a POS terminal on our counter top, and a cash register like most other stores. Our older volunteers are comfortable with both; and since people can use debit, our sales are increasing.

The Youth component of the Bookstore Project was pursued, without success, early in the year. We engaged a Youth Intern through the program run by the Diocese in November; and have now begun to implement the Youth programs we originally contemplated at the Bookstore. We also have a group of former teachers working on a tutoring program for children and youth based at the Bookstore.

We have begun group programs by initiating two book clubs. Each is now into its second book. We are now looking forward to beginning the felt needs small group programs.

Overall, we are satisfied with what we have accomplished so far. There has been much social currency earned – engagement with people who have not darkened the doors of our church, recognition by the business community that we have something of value to offer, and people who have come into the Bookstore looking for someone to talk to, and someone to listen. These ministry opportunities will not necessarily put backsides in our pews tomorrow, but we are beginning to once again be seen as relevant in our community.